Underground Jerusalem. By Charles Warren, R.E. (Bentley.)— Captain Warren has
much to say, but does not possess the art of saying it in a lucid or attractive way. What it is that he has discovered it would puzzle any reader not an expert in the Jerusalem controversy to say. If he had only told us what was known of the localities before the explorations began and what is known now, and told it without digres- sions, he would have fulfilled ten times better than he has his purpose of exciting the public interest in the work. It is not that we have any quarrel with the digressions, considered in themselves. On the contrary, they are, for the most part, readable and pleasant. The story of the writer's visit to the Samaritans, in particular, carries down to a recent period an interesting narrative. But we want to know, and that without taking much trouble, what has been actually done. It is clear enough, of course, to Captain Warren's apprehension, but he supposes in hi readers previous knowledge which they do not possess. There is mention, for instance, made of Mr. Ferguson's theories, which Captain Warren believes himself to have disproved, but we look in vain for a lucid, explicit statement of what the theories are, and of the points in which they are supposed by the writer to fail.
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